A Timeless Battle
by Penguinlord352
Summary: After one conflict has ended, another begins alongside it's origin. A war is waged alongside another, fighting to maintain the integrity of time. Can a war that has no place in the time stream have a beginning and an end? Is there a way to stop what isn't happening? Join Arashi, a man who has lived over a thousand lives, his closest friends, and heroes of time to uncover the truth.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I'd like to say that this has been a long time coming, but it would be a lie. I came up with this idea a week ago while talking to a friend of mine (The Unknowing Herald). It's the origin story and secret explanation of things unexplained fully in An Unending Struggle. Arashi is the only part of this that has been a long time coming. This character was born in my mind a year ago, give or take a month or two, and he's been growing and growing since then. Through the course of this tale you will learn about his birth and growth as a character, an idea, in my mind. Please, enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I own NOTHING but Arashi, Hibiki, Hikari, an OC who is NOT the Warrior of Light and is female, and Ahri Tidulv (as well as most other OCs in this tale). Shin Verus belongs to The Unknowing Herald, as does the story, An Unending Struggle, that this is the side-story for. Arashi's powers I invented on my own, save those he'll learn in this story as a result of things that will soon be explained. The origins of the powers I deem my own originals are not the ones explained in this story. I am making them become as such due to a need to have a better explanation than 'he figured it out himself'. Anything he has the ability to do that seems similar to a power from an anime, manga, or game is not intentionally so, unless otherwise stated. Some things have been excessively adapted and altered for the sake of this story.**

* * *

**Arc: Prologue**

**Twilight of An Unending Struggle**

**Chapter One:**

**The Unwilling Trigger**

_With the end of the true Final Fantasy came a great many issues. I, as Avatar of Time, have been assigned to fix a great many of the alterations of people's lives that occurred to the negative without changing the overall course of events. The number of lives I save in simply managing the parallel timelines is unbelievable. And yet, before it all, I had to ensure my own existence. I had to become a self-actuating paradox to attain my current powers and my new life. Stalking and guarding what was once a beast feared by the gods and a genuine Godslayer was just the side-job I had to do to get to when I needed to be. They still don't know about it, even though I now serve under their daughter. Now, I shall reveal the truth behind the final act of the play called life, which bears the title Final Fantasy!_

_**Experience and beware the Tale of A Timeless Battle!**_

* * *

There have been a large number of iterations in myths of the place commonly known (and in some cases formerly known) as Prince…I mean Hell, Hell! The current Hell has six 'circles' or levels. For example, there is the first circle, Limbo, where the punishment is an eternity of doing and being surrounded by…nothing! This is the highest circle of Hell. The second circle is Violence, a place of eternal warfare. The third circle is Gluttony, a place of insatiable hunger. The fourth circle is that of the beasts and bears no special name, for the only denizens are those who reduced themselves to nothing more than animals in life. The fifth circle is Shurakai, a place of the stereotypical eternal torture one would expect to find in Hell. The final circle is Cocytus, a frozen waste where the capital of Hell exists.

Approximately seventeen or eighteen years ago, there was a great war waged by the forces of good and evil that ravaged Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, as well as led to the (temporary) destruction of a number of worlds. Though the forces of good prevailed, it has left the afterlife, as well as the various realms of the living, in great disarray. Even nearly two decades later there were still problems. New posts had to be made to fill the gaps and speed up the recovery process. The Avatars, representatives of elements, magic, and even concepts, were called upon to help restore the balance between the realms of the dead and the living.

But that is a topic for another time. For now, we find ourselves in the second circle, Violence, watching a specific individual go about what was to be his final day dying as he'd lived. As a Shinobi, a ninja, and a paragon of the ambiguous line between good and evil. This ninja's name was, is, and will be Arashi. Simply that one word, with the meaning of 'storm' behind it, suffices as his identifier.

Now, let us delve into the tale of conflict, of secret salvation, of self-fulfillment…let us delve into the tale of Arashi…the Tale of A Timeless Battle.

His eyes shot open and his honed reflexes moved his body before he could even think about what it was doing. It was a skill perfected through countless battles in an endless way. His punishment for his lifetime of murder, espionage, and waging secret wars in the shadows was to endlessly continue to do such actions. _"At least it's something I know how to do better than a lot of the people here seem to."_

Indeed, Arashi was generally better than most of his attackers, slaying this lone warrior swiftly with but a flick of his wrist to drive the blade that emerged from the palm of his hand up into the man's skull. The blade retracted and Arashi let the blood pool in his hand for a moment before dropping the man. A nondescript sword with a chain attaching the end of the hilt to his wrist shot out of his palm and shone in his free hand. It was a curious power he held, but it was his and his alone. As he gazed into the reflection of the blade of unknown make he beheld himself once again, as was a habit of his. It was to reassure him he was not a monster with his memories, but truly himself. Purple, pupil-less eyes gazed back with a sense of resignation, framed by scarlet bangs; the rest of his blood colored hair was tied back in a short tail. His plain face was neither overly attractive nor horribly disfigured. Indeed, the faint scars littering it seemed to subtly make him look slightly more impressive. Arashi let the blade shorten and the chain lengthen until he was holding a short blade on the end of a chain. He began to idly spin this blade as he walked away from the cooling temporary corpse, winding his way through the dead forest he'd settled in for the night. Arashi had long ago learnt to let his body run on autopilot to avoid going insane like so many denizens of Violence eventually had. He'd wanted to prove that he was no monster. It was the only thing he could remember about how he died…that he'd died a monster, felled by another with the same profession he'd held in life. He knew because they'd done so without him noticing. They had been better than him – they likely still were.

He reflected on his afterlife, on the endless conflict, and thought about the names of powerful figures that had been bandied about by some of those who had arrived around the time he had. Shin, Terra, Jecht…those were the most commonly mentioned ones. Jecht was mentioned significantly more so than the other two. The man would likely destroy the entire circle in a day were he to be sentenced to eternity there. Apparently he could backhand gods and get away with it…because the backhands all but killed them.

Arashi took a deep breath and stepped out of the dead forest and onto the battleground for the day, a wide open plain where a massive number of mere foot soldiers fought against manikins. Hey, they had to go somewhere to keep them from spreading. The chain shortened again and the short blade became a sword once more. In Arashi's other hand a similar blade shot forth from his palm and settled in his grip.

Wordlessly, driven only by an instinct that told him violence was necessary to hide, to blend in, and to conceal his retained sanity the former ninja threw aside his training and charged silently into the fray, his blades flashing in a deadly dance against opponents who, in life, could have posed a threat. But in death they'd grown complacent, careless, and wild.

* * *

"You said you knew of a candidate for the Avatar of Time, yes?" the powerful voice asked.

"Yes, I did. He is in the second circle," responded a wise, but young, woman's voice.

"Oh? A denizen of Violence for an Avatar of a concept? Explain." The command almost drove the one who had once held the lofty seat herself to her knees, but she was not so weakened by the instability of her own original realm as to even show a sign of this.

"His name is Arashi, and he was once a boy who lived in a temple of mine," the wise woman began, "and though it may be a little bit of favoritism on my part, he learned the ways of my followers quite well, excelling in them and going beyond the norm before even reaching his teenaged years. And in those years he developed a rather unique capability."

"Go on."

"The ability to form, from any form of energy within him, Chain Blades," the wise woman continued. "Unfortunately, after I sent him on a mission to aid in the fight against JENOVA, he succumbed to the vile creature's will and was ended before I could save him by another whom I have yet to identify."

"But you believe it to be…"

"I do. And if it isn't, it could become truth. He is capable of much, and waging war in the shadows to protect the timeline would suit his talents well. He has great skill and would do well as the Avatar of Time."

"…What was his name again?"

"Arashi. Arashi of the Chains was a title he once held, though I doubt he holds any memories of his life still. Or any of his many, many lifetimes actually."

"But skills such as those taught by your followers are not so easily forgotten, are they? I hope that those he learned before he met you also have stuck with him." The powerful voice held a hint of amusement to it.

"No. No they are not. And I believe that in a place of mindless slaughter such as Violence his skills may have even dulled due to the endless warfare. Though his previous lives may have begun to show their effects as well."

"And why is it you believe that?"

"Arashi used to wait for the perfect moment to strike, the moment where he'd have no risk to himself…now he acts more like a warrior with the abilities of a ninja than that of a true denizen of shadows. He would fit the task better like this though, I feel. He'd need such an array of skills and abilities to keep up with those two absolute monsters," the wise woman's voice commented, sounding even more amused than before.

"Very well. I shall grant you and him a chance to perform this task. Guide him wisely and stay out of sight of Lezard. Now go, Ahri Tidulv, Timeless Wolf Goddess. Do not fail."

"I shall, Kami."

"…It was an honor to have known you."

* * *

Arashi was surrounded on all sides by a virtual sea of opponents. He struck out with one blade, blocked with the other, and was rewarded with a slash or stab wound. But he would never fall. He couldn't afford to fall. Not like this. Not after his pitiful, anticlimactic death. His greatest failure…and his time spent as a monster.

Suddenly, however, everything stopped and the world turned grey. Arashi spun to face the source of the aberration, his purple eyes roaring to true life for the first time in years with three small black dots spinning rapidly around the place where a pupil should have been.

"Well…you've certainly let yourself slip up in your skills Arashi. Tsk, tsk!" the woman before him scolded. A memory flitted into his mind for a brief instant, one of a grand white wolf with ten beautiful tails, all encircling him and protecting him as an infant. It was enough for him to remember a bit about who he was once.

"Ahri…Tidulv…" Arashi spoke, his voice hoarse and broken from disuse. Tears threatened to spill from his normally emotionless eyes, as his repressed self broke free. A smile, a smile victory for Ahri, formed on his faintly scarred face.

"You remember me, do you? How sweet," Ahri giggled, smiling. She didn't quite look the same as the memory, for Ahri was in the form of a white-haired young woman of modest figure in heavy blue robes. Ten white wolf tails idly moved about behind her and her predatory purple eyes, eyes she had shared with him once upon a time, were the clues that triggered Arashi's memory.

"But…why are you here? I…I failed you." Arashi frowned now, turning away in shame. It was a ninja's ultimate shame to fail their master and he had done just that. Now, he couldn't even commit ritual suicide to regain his lost honor.

Not that he wanted to. Honor was never that important to him. But still, he had his pride as a ninja in life. He supposed it should carry over to his death as well.

"I am here to give you another mission. One that will allow you to redeem yourself and become something greater," Ahri responded. "I am here to guide you on the path to become a great, yet unsung, hero. As a true ninja should be," she added playfully.

"I…I remember you telling me that once…when I was just a child," Arashi mumbled, turning his now hopeful purple eyes back to his benefactor and goddess.

"Indeed. Now, come. We have work to do and you need to speak with a man named Lezard…two decades ago."

"Well that's a bit of an extreme way to say we're behind schedule," Arashi joked as he smiled a little again and approached his honored master.

"Oh, I wasn't kidding around. We're going back in time. Now, hold your breath. I'll be merging with you once more my favored vessel. Once I do, you'll understand our goal for the time being." Ahri immediately became a glowing white outline of her former self, the wolf with ten tails, and slammed into Arashi's midsection. Immediately she began to be absorbed into his body, healing his wounds. Once the tip of the tenth tail disappeared, so too did Arashi, and time resumed.

And the endless war carried on as though he had never been there to begin with.

* * *

_Blonde spiky hair, pink hair, black hair…shaped like a duck's ass; the blond was full of smiles and hid a great pain, the pink was confused and consumed by self-doubt, but held great potential, and the black was filled with darkness and instability._

_Most of all, he remembered THEM. His best friends; their names escaped him for the moment though. One was quiet, no he was mute, and he held a mastery over the sealing arts that even he couldn't ever hope to match. She was his, the mute's, wife and constantly knew what everyone around her was thinking, almost literally reading people like they were books._

_Then there was the great long lifetime he spent as something powerful. A dragon. His mate, an impossibly long-lived predator of a different species, was by his side from a few months into this confusing life and she was there, by his side, until the end; the reincarnation of his true love. His best friends were his own children, however, and they came to him from the future. The mute and the people-reader, his children?_

_Arashi fell further into his past, confused._

_His friends, the mute and the people-reader, lived within his heart this time. He was a bringer of dawn…he stole a powerful weapon from the most powerful beings and kept it from falling into the hands of any who would, who could, use it. Aside from him at the very least, though that went without saying._

_Then his friends became his weapons, and he realized that these were memories going further and further back in time, detailing his own lives. He slew white monsters and helped the dead pass on, with a feeling of nostalgia pervading his senses._

_He fought alongside, near, and against heroes in many worlds, though he usually never even interacted with them as each Fantasy played out. Regardless of this, his friends were always by his side…Hibiki, the mute, and Hikari, the people-reader._

_Then he fought alongside a hero garbed in green against a great evil to save a princess and a kingdom, existing as a blue fairy and providing the green-clad hero with knowledge when necessary._

_Seven times he lived a very short existence as a summoned familiar in the same event, a war over a blessed cup said to grant wishes. He could have fought six others of himself, but instead each slew their summoner and severed his soul's ties to magic to prevent it from happening again._

_It was the first time he failed to realize that it would do nothing to stop the tragedies to come for that world._

_Hikari and Hibiki were by his side, in a utopia of a world once ravaged by war. It was then and there that Hibiki surpassed him in the sealing arts._

_Before that he lived a hundred more lifetimes, serving as hero, villain, and every shade of grey in between. He served these lifetimes as Arashi, forsaking his fourth name so that part of him would never risk being unfaithful to his first and true love._

_His first four lives…they held immense clarity to them, but he couldn't understand what he was being shown just yet. All he knew was that he was no longer incapable of magic._

* * *

Lezard Valeth was not a man to look a gift horse in the mouth. He had been trying to think of a way to deposit the reincarnated form he'd…'acquired' in the location he wanted it to awaken. So when, suddenly, a way to do so not only appears on his instruments, but also appears before him in the form of a red-haired young man, not even twenty, garbed in a green shirt with two sets of three holes running down on either side of his spine and simple black pants, Lezard Valeth ignored how it was just too perfect. Well, he ignored it for the moment at least.

The new arrival's heavy boots left nary a sound as they crossed the room cautiously to stop a few feet from the man, ignoring the many devices and experiments littering the lab.

"Well, well, well…what have we here? A time-traveler. Now, what is your purpose here? No, that's a stupid question, you're obviously here because you knew I needed something done for me and you want something in exchange. You have the look of a very experienced man about you. So, in exchange for doing my dirty work when you so choose, what is it you want?"

"Information on the movements of any other time-travelers. Particularly ones who seek to disrupt the chain of events you're about to set into motion," Arashi responded, speaking the words whispered into his mind by his goddess, who went unnoticed by the incredibly powerful sorcerer.

"Hoh? But that too aids me; I assume you know how this all ends though?" Lezard asked, eyes narrowed behind his glasses.

"Afraid not. I died sometime before the ending and was told that God wanted me to do something and got sent back in time." Again, these were the words that were spoken to him, and they were the truth; he didn't know the future, but he knew someone who did.

"Hm. Pity. Though if I do succeed, I would surely use someone who didn't know to do this so as not to spoil things by accidentally altering the timeline through my knowledge of my victory. So I shall ignore the fact that you are, yourself, from the future. For now." Lezard leaned forward, a mad look in his eyes as he processed all the various things he could and could not convince Arashi to do for him. "The first task is to take this young man," Lezard waved at the figure garbed in rags on a metal table, "and deposit him on Gaia 6 for me, would you? At these coordinates, precisely, dump him. Then I'll arrange a little meeting for you with the approaching time-travelers who seek to interfere in matters and let you decide if they're going to be too big of an issue. So long as they seek to aid the young man and any friends he makes they should be fine." Lezard then turned away, appearing to dismiss him, though both knew better. The sorcerer was merely trying to get a positive identification on Arashi's method of time-travel.

Without a word, Arashi picked up the unconscious body and vanished into a vortex of chains, his own personal illusion to cover his methods of travel. Lezard only saw it as a challenge however, and smiled.

* * *

_A figure with pink hair stood crying above him, lamenting his death. His son. He remembered now. His son…the only one able to finally put him to rest; his heart welled up with pride. Now he could finally sleep. 'I'm coming…Mavis.'_

_Except he wasn't going to where she waited, and it would be a very long time before he ever saw his one true love again. Eons until, as a dragon, he would be reunited with her and her new self._

_And a lifetime or so after that, they'd be themselves again, together forever. He knew this, and it warmed his heart to know that at the end of the dark tunnel he found himself in, his 'light' waited for him._

* * *

Arashi frowned as he took in his surroundings. It was a fairly plain area, really, with a small town nearby and a large building quite close. He shrugged and set the unconscious form on the ground, disappearing into the shadows as the sun rose and the inhabitants – all children and teens younger than either of the young men who had just arrived on this world – found the slumbering male. Arashi watched carefully, making sure that they brought him inside without issue, before turning to the ten-tailed white wolf that now stood beside him.

"Now what Ahri?" Arashi asked.

"Now we go to The End of Time. I can sense that our…business associate has managed to redirect something to there," the she-wolf responded, once more merging with the red-haired ninja and sending him through time.

* * *

_He lamented. The apocalyptic dragon had not only slain his son, but all his son's friends as well. It was the world's fault it had come to this. He would tolerate this world no more. It may have preached about it's peace and how there were no major wars going on…last time he checked anyways…but it held a darkness to it that he intended to purge._

_The world could reject his existence all it wanted. He was Zeref, and he would not be denied his vengeance._

* * *

Arashi blinked a few times to adjust himself to the shift from memory to reality. He pushed his newly regained memories back, ignoring them for the time being. They were there, they were real, and he accepted that. He just didn't have the time to review them any more than he had at the moment. He was doing better with it than anyone else could boast of to say the least.

The place known as The End of Time was a simple, yet familiar, place for both Crono and Serge. They'd been there many times before in the course of events that had occurred and had yet to occur. The familiar cobblestone plaza, the streetlight, the fences, and the void beyond were all very familiar to them. However, the red-haired young man standing before them with a bear-sized ten-tailed white wolf was not.

"Who are you? Are you the one who forced the Epoch down here?" Crono immediately demanded. The spiky redhead had a hand on his blade's hilt, ready to draw if needed.

"My name is Arashi, servant of the Timeless Wolf Goddess Ahri Tidalv and I am currently on a mission granted by God. I come from nearly two decades in the future of this current timeline. While I don't know how things end, I do know that it's best I don't," Arashi slid into a very sturdy stance, taking note of Crono's hostility.

"We don't have time to waste. We need to get moving, now! There is a world in danger of being outright shattered!" Serge interrupted, cutting through the tension. The bandanna covering his messy blue hair, Arashi absently noted, looked like it had just barely avoided being roasted recently.

"It isn't Gaia 6 is it?" Arashi asked, his voice turning cold as ice at the notion that Lezard had delayed people trying to save a world. It was anathema to him, despite his profession. Even though he was a ninja in his most recent life and apparently a psychotic mage in one of his first lives, he was a human being before all that ever happened. It seemed that thought resonated with him however, and it felt so very, very right. He didn't know what he was now, but he had been a human at first and as such he sought to regain those thoughts and feelings, those first memories, as quickly as possible. His morality just happened to come first from that first Arashi…or whatever his name may have been.

"Yes, it is. Omega has been unleashed and we need to get there in time to warn and evacuate as many people as we can from that world!" Crono seized the chance to get Arashi onboard.

"Ahri?" Arashi looked to the wolf.

"I believe they are on the same side as we are Arashi," her voice emanated from the wolf, despite it not moving its jaw. "We need not rush anyways. You two know how this place functions. You needn't worry about anything. We have plenty of time to speak on the matter."

"I sent a group of allies ahead of me to observe the situation," Crono stated. "Unless you need me here, I'd like to get a move on." The redheaded swordsman was truly impatient it seemed with this matter.

"That should be alright. Good luck," Ahri stated.

"You can send Serge whenever he needs to go, right?" Crono asked, hesitant to abandon his ally.

"I have that power," Ahri admitted.

"Good. I'll see you on the other side Serge," Crono fist bumped his fellow hero and ran for the Epoch, departing to Gaia 6 immediately.

"Soo…what now?"

"Now you and I plan your next move while I send Arashi on to monitor the situation on his end of things. I sense another interloper approaching the world through the time stream. Arashi, I shall leave the forsaken tree to you." Ahri glowed white and shot a tail into Arashi, leaving her with only nine and sending Arashi back to Gaia 6.

"Now we can speak candidly."

* * *

_His magic, the magic cursed by many over his long, long life, was known as Living Magic and Death Magic. His Living Magic could instill life in the inanimate and heal the living, and his Death Magic did the opposite. It made the living inanimate and corroded that which held no life. It was his curse and his blessing, enabling him immortal life in exchange for the world constantly attempting to end him in any way it could. But it was only right after what he'd done to his own son out of the fear of being knowingly hated as a father and a fear of bringing that hatred to bear on his son._

* * *

Arashi blinked the dust from his eyes as he was passed by a golden streak. He then realized he was falling. Arashi shot out a grapple-chain, latching onto the ground a ways away and pulling himself in at an angle to lessen the impact. He disengaged as soon as he got a good speed and hit the ground rolling.

"Well, that landing could have gone better," Arashi mumbled to himself, shaking the dirt off as he stood up. He had been about to try the magic he'd remembered when an interruption presented itself.

"Indeed it could have interloper. Who are you?" a metallic voice rang out behind him. Arashi spun rapidly to find a knight encased in blue armor…or something that was supposed to be a knight.

"My name…does it really matter. You're the one interfering with the timeline, right?" Arashi responded.

"I suppose an exchange of names would be pointless…for soon you shall return to the Void!" A circle of light appeared beneath the man and shot forward to the ground in front of Arashi. It was only his years of experience in dealing with unexpected foes in the second circle that saved him from decapitation.

"Damn, you're fast for such a rust-bucket!" Arashi back-flipped away quickly making note of how his attacker paused.

"What did you just call me?" The knight(?) stood up straight, trying to use his imposing height to make clear his anger at such a comment.

"A rust-bucket. That's why your armor's all painted, right, to cover up all the rust?" And there it was. Arashi's once infamous smirk. The small portion of Ahri concealed within him began to relay this news to the main body of the goddess.

"You shall pay for such impudence!" the blue armored man exclaimed, suddenly flying at Arashi and encasing himself in a sphere of dark energy. "ALMAGHEST!"

"Shi-" Arashi didn't get out of the way in time. Being dead and fighting innumerable weak opponents had dulled his once legendary reaction speed. The blast of white light sent him flying after shattering his chain swords, tumbling end over end, with his chest caved in. His ribs had been shattered and it idly occurred to him that his opponent had been toying with him at first.

Then energy began to course through him, restoring his body to its former health. _"Living Magic. So, it activated without me needing to want it to? Interesting." _Arashi leapt to his feet, a fresh set of chain swords in his hands seconds later, and three dots spinning around the place where a pupil should be in each eye at speeds that made them blur together into a ring.

"Ho? You survived?" The knight seemed amused. He felt that his victory was a sure thing given what had just happened. "Well then…why not play with my friends since you've ruined my agenda for the day."

Arashi's eyes widened slightly as several manikins appeared seemingly from thin air. "Well…that's a nifty party trick…" He refrained from using the apparently offensive nickname he'd given his opponent since that hadn't ended well for him last time.

"Destroy this impudent fool," the knight commanded with a wave of his arm.

The manikins, all resembling different people who Arashi didn't recognize, charged. As soon as the first reached him, Arashi spun his right blade about, swinging it in an upward arc, slicing off its arms as it reached out to blast him with some form of magic at close range. "Weaker than normal though."

Arashi was then forced to jump back as another of its fellows destroyed the manikin, this one with a large blade dragging behind it on the ground. "Well, that was a bit of a backhanded tactic…hehehe…get it? It was underhanded because you attacked through your ally, but you backhanded it, so I said…oh, right. You guys have no brains."

Arashi blocked a swing of the large blade with both of his own, finding himself actually hard-pressed to repel it and lash out with a kick to drive it back. "But damn if you aren't a lot stronger than the last one." Arashi blocked another slash of the manikin's blade and took notice of how the rest were just watching and waiting. They were being smart about it. Sure, they could try and overwhelm him with numbers, but it was just as likely he'd slip out and they end up pummeling one another. This way he got tired out and weaker as time went on.

Well…it would have worked if he weren't such a stamina freak. It was his defining physical trait, aside from his agility. But even that was earned through training. He'd been born a monster of stamina.

Arashi's thought process was interrupted when he was blown back by a stronger slash from his current opponent. _If my stamina is my only asset in this situation…and I know I'm weaker than that rust-bucket…then hopefully Ahri can send some backup soon._ The redhead ducked under another swing of the blade and brought his own dual blades up in an X, gently resting against the manikin's throat…before maneuvering them like a pair of scissors and beheading it.

A blast of magic blew apart what was left of the manikin as Arashi back-flipped away, the blast barely singing his arms. Arashi hissed a bit, but the damage was very minor. It didn't inhibit him in the least as he fought off a manikin of a girl hovering above the ground. She was fighting him at mid-range, forcing him to throw his swords to reach her. The chains extended from his palms as the blades flew, and he halted the extension with a snap of his wrists and a flexing of his fingers as he seized a section of each chain in each hand and flung his arms inwards, entrapping the manikin in the chains before the blades curved suddenly and sliced through 'her' head, dicing it into three pieces before the chains crushed what was left like a python.

Yet another manikin, with a spiky head and a big sword, charged in. This one was easy to dispatch, just a roll under the initial attack and then an upward stab.

_Chief, duck!_ a familiar female voice rang out in his mind. It wasn't Ahri's wise voice however; this was an energetic, younger woman whose voice held an undertone to it that was reminiscent of a cat for some odd reason. Heeding it, he did so, knowing whose voice it was.

"_Hikari?!"_ Arashi didn't let his shock show on the outside, though he had a feeling Hibiki was present as well, amused and silently laughing at his internal 'what the ****' face.

The chain sword in his right hand began to shake before stopping, and a chain with a short blade tip emerged from his shoulder, spearing out through a shorter manikin that had been jumping at him. The monkey tail on it and the daggers in hand reminded Arashi of some of the vaguer memories of his lives spent in what were classified as the Fantasies. He didn't dwell on this subject though, instead taking his friends' presence and aid in stride, and fending off an attack from a spear-wielding manikin.

It seemed like there were more of them than before however.

A second chain, this one with what looked to be a claw of metal on the end rather than a blade, shot forth from his left shoulder, slashing through the legs of three of the growing number of manikins, leaving Arashi able to focus on his current opponent.

The spear wielder was skilled; Arashi had to parry and counter each strike and jab the manikin made with a short back-step. He ducked under one end of the spear only to find the other suddenly embedded in his thigh. It was only quick thinking on the part of his two friends that saved him; the chains they somehow inhabited swung around and diced the spear wielder from behind.

However, even with their aid in thinning the numbers, manikins now surrounded Arashi. It seemed he wouldn't be getting out of this so easily until…

"Fire's of Din, Blaze of Creation, LEND ME YOUR STRENGTH!" A green clad warrior landed before him, punching the ground and igniting a dome of flames. The attack passed over Arashi harmlessly, making him feel foolish for working to create a chain barrier with Hibiki and Hikari's help.

"_I want to know why you two are within me, but that can wait for now. First…" _"Who are you?" Arashi stood at the ready, his blades held at his sides in a deceptively ready stance, and his friends hanging in the air about his shoulders like deadly snakes waiting to strike. The image of a rabbit briefly passed by his mind's eye, followed by one of a cat, and Arashi sighed at what he remembered as Hibiki's corrective nature.

"My name is Link. Are you Arashi?" The warrior stood and turned to face him, completely calm despite the surviving manikins getting to their feet. He had a long, floppy green cap on his head, almost hiding his dirty-blonde hair, and dark blue eyes. His ears were long and pointed. He had a green tunic on and a chainmail shirt on beneath that. His pants were white but sturdy looking and his boots, though coated with enough dirt to make them a really natural brown, seemed just as good in condition.

"Yeah. Why?" Arashi asked, his caution never wavering around this new arrival despite his apparent aid against the manikins.

"Hold still." Link pulled a white boomerang that looked like it was designed to resemble a wing out of…well, a small pouch at his waist, and threw it at the nearest manikin, generating a small tornado. Then he whipped out two clawed gauntlets that shot the claws out like grappling hooks, piercing two more manikins, and he swung his arms so that they'd slam into their fellows as weapons.

"_Why didn't I think of that?"_

_Because you weren't thinking of dealing with multiple opponents at once._

Arashi sighed at Hikari's response. The cat-like woman was mocking him, he was sure of it.

Arashi spun and threw his chain swords out, wielding them in much the same manner as Link did his clawshots, while Hibiki and Hikari lashed out at any who came close to the two.

It was over quickly. Exdeath had left once Link had arrived, something neither of the two had noticed. With his departure, the manikins had stopped growing in number, enabling them to wipe the field clean. Link was noticeably better at it, seamlessly switching between a bow and magical arrows, several massive hammers, a variety of swords, throwing in the occasional bomb, and even using that fire magic from before. When it was over, Arashi turned his attention to his newfound ally.

"**Hehehe…well, that went MUCH better than expected. You haven't dulled in the slightest, 'Hero'," **a taunting, slightly echoed female voice childishly commented. Link's shadow shot up, revealing an impish girl with a strange stone helm, open at the top, and carved with intricate runes. An eye design covered her left eye, but the orange glow of the visible one was nonetheless eerie. The glowing blue rune patterns that decorated her body at seemingly random places added to the otherworldly effect the black-and-white imp girl gave off. The odd-looking orange ponytail sticking out of the top of the stone helmet completed the look. **"Sorry, Link here isn't much of a talker. Name's Midna. Ahri said we'd be borrowing you for some timeline fixing."**

"Wait, what? She didn't say anything like that to me," Arashi protested, his brow furrowed in confusion. He was trying to figure out if he could take the two if they turned out to be a very elaborate enemy distraction. After all, manikins weren't hard to replace.

"_She speaks true, Arashi. Midna is an old friend of mine, and her home has fallen victim to a terrible convergence. If it isn't fixed soon, it shall be completely destroyed, and the power it holds within it left to the hands of our enemy,"_ Ahri's voice echoed in Arashi's mind.

"_Hey, keep your thoughts to yourself furball!"_ Hikari interjected. _"The Chief's got enough voices in his head as it is!"_

"**She confirm it then?"** Midna asked, drawing Arashi out of his thoughts.

"Yes, she has. I assume we are about to depart for your realm…however, Ahri, what of this place? Who will stop Exdeath and his forces from trying again?" Arashi asked, this time receiving his answer aloud.

"Crono and Serge have this place and time under control. You needn't worry."

"Understood." Arashi took a deep breath and waited.

In a flash of white light, the three were gone.

* * *

**Okay, so that is chapter one. I know it's a lot to take in, and I know Arashi's past is a bit…grand. But just give me a chance here people. I'm doing my best to moderate things and the only reason I used Zeref was because I have a hunch his actions in the past have been greatly misunderstood and that there is a great deal more to the story. And no, Arashi is not based on how I think Zeref should be. Arashi came about in my mind WELL before I invented this, now official, backstory for his character. Arashi's power-ups will come from him remembering his first four lives. The rest are lives he lived with more or less the same set of skills as he's started this tale with: badass swordsmanship and chain blades. If you haven't figured out the truth behind Hibiki and Hikari, you'll learn soon enough. And if you do know, put it up in a review. I won't confirm or deny it, but I'll give a shout-out, maybe more, to whoever gets it right first. Perhaps a character cameo of their choosing…**

**Unknowing Herald is not allowed to participate in this. He knows the truth.**

**Otherwise, thanks for reading, and please REVIEW!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews, those who gave them. Here's my responses;**

**Wood Dog:**

**Thanks for the review. I'm glad you're taking the 'wait and see' approach to the amount of incomplete information I've provided in chapter one. It's supposed to make you curious, yes, but it's also a subtle encouragement to read An Unending Struggle, as you may find some of your answers there.**

**In terms of the number of OCs…I'm not going to make any predictions. Your guess is as good as mine. Four so far…maybe I'll throw in some more. Just keep in mind that this connects in some way to many if not most of my other stories. They probably won't be appearing in the direct story, more referenced really.**

**I hope I don't disappoint. ^_^**

**The Unknowing Herald:**

**You really want a cookie? Fine. Have a cookie. *****Throws cookie*******

**It's mainly people who witnessed the two in combat. Never said they were the cause of death.**

**Yes, that line is ominous foreshadowing.**

**I studied Link **_**excessively**_**, reading articles on the origins of the concept of Link. He was meant to be the avatar through which the player interacted with the world. His 'voice' is meant to be the player's own. Therefore I'm taking a leap here and making my own persona for Link. He's going to be a badass in every sense of the word if I pull this off. If not, then he is who he is.**

**As for the Crono and Serge thing, I already told you what happened there and it'd be a spoiler to tell you any more.**

**Lucenthia:**

**Thanks for that first bit. I'm glad to know you feel that way about the hell segment.**

**Just wait. Things are going to get ridiculous pretty fast. But he'll only fight on the level of what he's fighting against. In other words, he's only OP when his opponents are. Also, he isn't a Warrior of Cosmos, as I mentioned in the PM response to your review. He's a rogue third party. I'm mentioning this here as well for the benefit of those who were confused about where his place in the standings is.**

**On the note of OCs, you needn't worry; they're my specialty. I'm much better with them than anything else in my opinion. And not all my chapters will average 9K words. This chapter is a good example.**

**The hell used in ATB, this story, and AUS, Herald's story, is an in-universe one unique to this continuity. At least, that's what I think the case is. If Herald is using one already made in another fandom, then I'll give him another cookie for not realizing that was the case. Thanks for the concern though, I appreciate it.**

**I'll do my best to keep this thing alive. Thanks for the review.**

* * *

**Disclaimer: I own only Arashi, Hibiki, Hikari, and Ahri. Shin Verus belongs to The Unknowing Herald.**

**And fair warning – things may get a bit confusing regarding Arashi's name from here on out. He himself isn't entirely sure who he is anymore. Also, any form that I don't want to reveal too much about yet will have their name and ability names replaced by * for each letter. They'll be revealed in time along with the truth behind the transformations. You'll see what I mean if you read. So, with all that said...**

**Enjoy the show!**

* * *

**Arc One: Prologue**

**Twilight of An Unending Struggle**

**Chapter Two:**

**The Beast Within**

* * *

_This time there were no memories of Zeref; instead vague recollections of a village in a sea of trees, a spiky blonde head of hair, and controlling the wind with a wave of his hands._

"_You take the - and split it in two before grinding the two halves back together, sharpening them constantly. Wind isn't about pushing things; it's all about cutting."_

* * *

"**What's with the hold up?" **Midna growled, irritation and impatience rolling off her in waves. **"We're on a tight schedule here; Hyrule is getting closer and closer to becoming this place!"**

"I merely need to give Arashi a bit more of my power to ensure he is not overcome by the Twilight. Unlike the two of you, he holds no Triforce piece to protect him," the great white wolf responded, promptly stabbing Arashi in the chest with another tail and watching it absorb into him, leaving her with only eight. "Besides, we wouldn't be here if it could reach here, now would we?"

"**Ugh, can we just go now? All this time travel mumbo-jumbo is making my head hurt," **the impish queen grumbled.

"Indeed you may. I wish you the best of luck…" Ahri paused as the trio departed, making sure to guide them to the meeting point with their fourth party member, "…not that you need it."

* * *

_Lightning doesn't follow commands. Lightning moves, swiftly, decisively, and it always leaves destruction in its wake if left unopposed. You have to guide it. You make it by tearing apart your - and then grinding the pieces back together as quickly as you can._

* * *

Arashi felt weird. His entire body felt weird. It was almost as if his limbs were gone and in there place was something long and sleek. _No, they're there…they just feel different._

"**Wow. Didn't expect that. You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" **Midna idly commented from off to the side somewhere.

_What is she talking about?_ Arashi opened his amethyst eyes and gazed about. They were in a forest at either sunset or sunrise – he couldn't tell which. The sun wasn't in view and the twilight seemed to be coming from all directions. Then he opened his mouth to speak and realized what was weird. His mouth's shape was different. It was elongated, like a snout, and his teeth felt like sharp fangs on his much longer and thinner tongue.

Arashi turned his head to look at himself and was, for some reason, more put out than surprised by what he saw. His body resembled that of an Eastern Dragon – long, sleek, with four short limbs and a lot of space between the front limbs and the back limbs, relatively speaking. He wasn't much smaller than a fully-grown horse. The white scales gleamed against the twilit forest's green and yellow. His two leathery wings, placed closer to his head than his tail, were folded against his body at the moment, as they should have been. _Why do I feel like I should be blue? And a lot bigger at that…_

"_Because you once were, under the name 'Bahamut',"_ Hikari replied, still apparently hiding within his body.

"**Alright, a God-General is supposed to be meeting us here on loan from Heaven. This is a serious enough situation to warrant at least one after all. Now where the hell is she?"** Midna wondered aloud. Arashi glanced over at the odd imp-girl and found her lounging casually on the back of a grey wolf with an odd insignia on its forehead. She was lovingly petting the wolf and scratching it behind the ears every-so-often, and the beast appeared to be enjoying it as it lounged on the ground, keeping one eye on him and another on the surrounding forest.

Arashi took noted of the ladder behind them leading up to a house embedded inside a tree. It was a very large tree. _I wonder who lives here? This is quite the nice house._

"**Hm? Oh, you're probably wondering where we are. We're in the ****Twilit Mirror World**_**,**_** what's left of my home…Ganon and that witch turned it into a mirror image of the real Hyrule after…"** Midna paused, a great sadness showing in her one visible red-orange eye. **"Well, that's not important. That is Link's place right there. Right Link? Home, sweet home,"** Midna finished with a hint of nostalgia.

The wolf, to Arashi's surprise, snorted and appeared to _smile_. It was, after all, Link. One of them, anyways.

"Hey! Sorry I'm late! I was just checking up on…" a feminine voice, eerily familiar to Arashi's non-existent ears, trailed off, "****." Arashi paused, confused as to why he couldn't make sense of the name the voice had just said. Within the time span it normally took the former Shinobi to kill an opponent back in his prime, a blonde and pink blur had slammed into his side and was nuzzling his neck affectionately. "Oh, I knew you'd pull through!"

The purple-eyed dragon stared at the girl a moment before sniffing her cautiously, bewildered. _It can't be…_

"Ooooh, I've missed you so much Zeref! It's been soooooo long! I was getting bored waiting for you to pop up again!" came the muffled feminine voice of one Mavis Vermillion. The golden-blonde curly hair was the first clue. The green eyes lacking any visible iris were the second clue. The child-like build and the pink, frilly, layered robe with a red ribbon tied in a bow around her neck were the final clues. Her calling him by one of his previous names was the thing that settled it.

His wife had come back from the dead as well.

Arashi's mind nearly imploded with an unbridled sense of joy and completeness he'd lacked for what felt like thousands of years. Unfortunately, his mind couldn't handle that on top of his beloved's vice grip on his windpipe, which was crushing it despite it being a dragon's windpipe at the time, and thus he lost consciousness quite swiftly.

* * *

"_Do you, Zeref Vermillion, take this Mavis Gaellia to be your lawfully wedded wife?"_

"_I do."_

"_And do you, Mavis Gaellia, take this Zeref Vermillion to be your lawfully wedded husband?"_

"_I do."_

"_You may now kiss the bride."_

* * *

"-ef! Zeref! Wake up!" The dragon cracked an eye open in lazy amusement as he regained consciousness, looking up to see his better half pouting adorably. He'd even admit as much. He managed to pull out the closest a dragon could get to a smile though.

"**Well, since sleeping scaly has **_**finally**_** decided to join us, it's time to go over the plan."** Zeref turned his purple eyes towards the little imp, attentive evidently. The former Black Mage kept his focus on the former Queen of the Twili as she began talking again, understanding the gravity of things fully. **"We need to get through the monsters guarding the Mirror of Twilight and use it to free the various heroes trapped in this world and return them to the compressed Hyrule. As the only remaining Twili and the Queen of them at that, you need me to do that part. What you and Link have to do is take out the monsters so I'm not interrupted. Mavis is going to help me by boosting my magical power when the time comes, since neither of you two can do that as you are now. Everyone understand? From there it's a straight up war with Ganon and that witch."**

"Understood," Mavis responded, her face unusually serious. Zeref resisted the urge to roll his eyes; their enemies wouldn't last long if she was in that kind of mood after all.

And in typical Mavis fashion, she surprised him once more by suddenly bursting out in laughter after staring at Midna's hair for a few seconds.

"**What?! What's so funny about my hair, huh?!"** Midna growled. Link glared at Mavis for her apparent mocking of Midna's hair. It had saved his life on a number of occasions!

"Sorry, sorry. I just saw the color and it reminded me of this prank a friend of mine pulled on this guy called Darth Vader," Mavis giggled out. "Okay, so, this guy, Darth Vader, he walks around in this special suit of armor that's keeping him alive and stuff. It's black and shiny and has a cape. And every time he breathes it's really loud and sounds like he's whispering a word or something. So, my friend, he sneaks into this guy's fortress, after painting the entire thing ORANGE, paints the…soldiers' armor bright pink, 'so they can get in touch with their righteous female fury', then switches Vader's armor out for a green version with orange leg-warmers…and get this, he rigs the helmet so that every time the guy breathes, it sounds like he's loudly whispering either 'youth' or 'bo-'," Mavis then breaks back out into laughter. "Sorry, I just…I can't finish that…" she chokes out between laughs. Tears are streaming down her face from her sheer amusement at the memory.

Midna soon joins her in laughter upon realizing what it was that Darth Vader was forced to say.

* * *

"You understand the current situation then?" Ahri's wise voice echoed across the cobblestones.

"Yes, I do. I can't speak for the others though…" Despite his sharp cerulean eyes and spiky blonde mop, this man was not Cloud Strife. He was clad in a thick green vest and black garb underneath it, with a white long coat on over it all. Flames decorated the bottom hem and in bright red the kanji for the words 'Yondaime Hokage' proudly announced the man's occupation from his time in the living realm.

"Yeah, I got it. Still don't quite understand what's going on, but I've got it." This next man had an easy smile on his face beneath his five-o'clock fuzz. His auburn hair was slicked back out of his face and he wore a tattered dirt brown cloak on his shoulders. He had apparently chosen to forgo a shirt, but the metal left limbs on his body hinted at the intensity of the battles he'd fought in his lifetime more than the scars decorating it. He, thankfully, had pants on. He wasn't a habitual stripper, like someone he knew…

"I understand as well, Ahri-sama." The shortest of the three men had bright white hair and shining teal eyes. Clad in a black shihakusho and hakama with a white haori over it, the young man seemed out of place. "As I understand it, our fellows and leader are currently in the field?"

"That is correct, Hitsugaya-san." Ahri waved her eight tails in a circular gesture, indicating the cobblestone platform they were all standing upon. "However, I need the three of you here to aid me in converting this place to its intended function."

"And that would be?" the Hokage asked. His face betrayed nothing more than curiosity and an eagerness to set to work.

"Arashi's home base in this war on time." Ahri's tails glowed brightly; depositing the supplies each would need before turning to the fourth and final arrival.

"He will need no special room or space more than what the others will construct. I shall instead focus on drawing out this realm's natural energies and connection-" the woman, clad in hooded brown robes, cut herself off. "Another of our new comrades is close to arriving."

A head with short pink hair and nervous gray-blue eyes came into view from the open door that had appeared in their midst. The young woman who owned them wore plain foresters garb beneath worn leather armor. Behind her was a man who appeared to be of the same age with blue hair and dark eyes, clad in light loose gray clothes and a blue cloak. The woman seemed to withdraw to the man nervously, and judging by his gentle grin this was nothing unusual.

"I'm Colm, this is Neimi. We were called by Time?" the young, yet deadly, assassin asked rather than stated, getting a good look around the cobblestone area the group stood upon as the door had vanished.

"As we, too, were called," the other woman spoke up. "Our leader is in the field currently with three other agents. We were just about to begin building up this location as a defensible and functional base of operations. Welcome to the ranks of Time's army."

"I still say we need a proper name for this thing…" the shirtless man interrupted, trailing off lazily as he eyed the supplies Ahri had provided him.

"Alright. Not like we haven't got any kind of experience with this kind of thing anyways, eh sweetheart?" Colm smiled excitedly. He could just smell the treasure and adventure.

"R-right…" Neimi responded, eying up Ahri cautiously. She could just smell the trouble and danger they faced.

Both had ignored the now grumbling shirtless man.

* * *

It hadn't taken long to get the briefing on how they were to go about their first mission done, and before long Arashi was in the air, Mavis and Midna riding his back and Link, in wolf form, clutched in his claws. The former Shinobi was tempted to do a barrel roll, but he refrained. He just felt so free like this, flying through the skies. Their destination was Hyrule field, where their unfortunate target awaited.

"**Now remember, when we get there the Mirror of Twilight will react and draw out the darkness within you to defend itself from me. Once I destroy it we'll be back in the light world,"** Midna reminded the two heroes-turned-beasts.

Arashi nodded, memories of similar occurrences in his past popping up to offer him aid. He was certain Link had similar experiences and resolved to ask him about it later when they came into view of their destination.

"Why is the Mirror of Twilight all the way out here anyways?" Mavis asked, knowing that Zeref would want to know this information as well.

"**Ganon and that witch didn't want us to be able to escape straight into the Arbiter's Grounds, which they've restored and made themselves right at home in. It suits their tastes apparently,"** Midna commented, a disgusted look on her face.

"So this version of the mirror moved to mimic the position of the mirror on their end?" Mavis asked, a pensive look on her face. "Then they're going to have the other side under heavy guard. And two of us will be helpless once we pass through. So…we'll need a plan ready and waiting in order to pull through that particular fight."

"**Don't worry about that; I told Ahri the same thing. She said she'd get us some backup experienced with handling massive numbers."** Leaving things at that, the four focused in on their destination. **"Land a little ways away from it so that you two have enough time to get your bearings before your doppelgangers appear."**

Arashi saw the glint of the twilight on the mirror and slowed quickly, descending slowly down to the field below. He let Link go a foot off the ground and waited for the wolf to move aside before landing beside him. When Midna shot off his scaly back and plopped herself down on the wolf, Arashi had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at Link's head turning to give Midna a playful glare.

"Be careful Zeref. Promise me," Mavis quietly commanded from her place on his back. Purple eyes without pupils blinked and were suddenly red with slit black pupils. The dragon turned his head and looked the very young looking woman in the eyes before nodding and nuzzling her for a moment with his snout.

"**Alright, let's get this show on the road people…er, dragon and wolf…whatever! You know what I mean!" **Midna kicked Wolf Link in the ribs like he was a horse and propelled him forward towards the mirror, an action they seemed to be quite used to judging by how instantaneously the hero had responded to it.

"You heard her Zeref," Mavis murmured to her scaly husband. Arashi snorted, a tiny bit offended by Midna's reckless charge, while Zeref was highly amused by the relationship between the Twili and the hero. The dragon, somehow, managed to catch up, despite its short limbs and wavy body. Arashi was used to moving fast, no matter the form. It seemed that this carried over into his draconic self as well.

As soon as the two got within twenty meters of the Mirror of Twilight, an explosion of dark energies erupted from the ground around it, sealing it off behind a wall of black magic. Beside it sat two entities, very familiar to each of the two warriors. In Link's case, it was his dark self. Dark Link, though he knew the name wasn't very creative, smirked at his light counterpart. Link immediately shifted back into his human form, the Master Sword guarding him against the Twilight.

Arashi stared down a far larger western black dragon. One that Zeref knew quite well. He'd created the beast from his world's most powerful Dragon-Slayer after all. "Acnologia, huh…looks like we'll need to go all out, won't we Zeref?" Mavis whispered, more to herself than to him. She began glowing and turned into a bright golden light that sunk into his body, merging with him. The sudden surge of power equaled the level of increased energy Link had gained from the Triforce of Courage in the face of his hated dark self.

"**Well…this is going to be a lot tougher than I thought."** Midna was sitting on the air behind Link's head, observing the situation closely. **"Alright, so it seems I was right. We do have to beat them to get past."**

Zeref shot Midna a quick glare – after all, she'd based their success on a guess – and then shrugged it off as unimportant. It wouldn't change the situation to complain. _"You're absolutely right Zeref!"_ Mavis chirped from where she now resided; in other words, deep within his soul. _"So, let's focus on the battle, shall we?"_

Link took off running away from the mirror towards Death Mountain, Dark Link close behind.

Arashi shot like a bullet into the sky, still in his dragon form, leading Acnologia away from the other duel and towards the large body of water and the desert Mavis was showing him in their shared mind's eye.

* * *

Link was engaged in the fight of his life. Even Ganon hadn't been as good an opponent as Dark Link. Dark Link knew all the same moves he did, but was far more brutal in their execution than the last time they met. Now, having lived a full lifetime of fighting off beasts and darkness, Link was far better prepared to deal with his wayward inner darkness.

And as the Blade of Evil's Bane clashed with the Blade of Light's End a beautiful symphony of steel began to ring out.

Link ducked under a horizontal slice, rolling around behind his darker self and jumping up with his blade ready to slash open Dark Link's back; unfortunately, Dark Link had seen this coming and rolled forward, spinning around in time for his shield to block Link's next strike and for Link's shield to stop his own counterattack.

Neither said a word. Both simply grinned. They were essentially the same person after all. Words were unnecessary.

Link and Dark Link jumped back from one another in unison and charged, each bringing their blade in a diagonal up-left swing to clash in the center with a loud clang. They ignored the roars in the distance and the sounds of the beautiful Lake Hylia being used as a battleground for two far more destructive entities.

* * *

Arashi was having a hard time evading Acnologia. Zeref was useless against it, as it was immune to his own magic by design unless it was greatly weakened. And this was far more than a simple shade being a real representation of the monster, though it was not the one he could control the body of.

With this in mind, Arashi blasted the white-hot flames he had at his beck and call (for the time being) and tried to burn Acnologia's left eye out. He succeeded, miraculously, before being backhanded into Lake Hylia. He felt like every bone in his damned body had broken into pieces again. A blue flash flared beneath the surface and a scaly arm shot up through the surface. Tests would have revealed it had DNA relatable to birds and fish.

In truth, it was the Summoner Arashi, who had once spent time as a Summoner to Leviathan, a Lost Aeon, in the world called Spira. He'd never done anything important or revealed his status to the world at large, choosing to peacefully spend his time traveling the lost lands far from the threat of SIN.

Following the fishy arm was said man. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties with black hair just long enough to tie back into a tail. He wore black robes over what seemed to be a black standard issue Jonin outfit from Konohagakure. "Rise before your waters can be desecrated and aid my in purifying the world's SIN! LEVIATHAN!"

And a sea serpent nearly as big as Acnologia appeared from the waters suddenly, blasting the black dragon with what amounts to lasers made of water. As quickly as it appeared it burst into water, a figure shooting through it propelled by white flames and white draconic wings. The Flame Haze **White Blaze of the Storm** and his contracted Crimson Lord, **The Fairy of Purity**, Mavis, took to the battlefield in the wake of the summoning.

With flaming fists the Flame Haze met and exchanged blows with the great black dragon, which had recovered from the blast of Leviathan. The two passed one another, flying with their backs towards the other, and spun. A giant scaly fist met a human, no, a fist that was more than human, held back by golden chains.

The Slayer of Prometheus, the Campione known as the King of Thieves, ******* ********, the Eighth Campione of his time, was now present on the battlefield. His signature Authority, one he himself had crafted, something unique to him and him alone, born not of deity but sheer will, ***** *******, was active. The golden chains that were attached to nothing but the air, holding his entire body back from overpowering the dragon, broke, and the giant scaly fist found itself being pushed back. A blast of black flame from the dragon's cursed mouth sent Lucifer flying in retaliation, crashing into the sands of the Twilight Gerudo Desert.

Acnologia recovered from being pushed to the ground and took to the skies once more to attack its creator, only to find itself being assaulted by a youth in a white hooded coat that hid his entire body and a featureless mask that was half-black and half-white. The giant black and white keys the figure wielded cut deep into its supposedly indestructible scales and if not for its quick thinking and a swat of its tail the dangerous weapons would have reached one of its wings, disabling its flight.

The white-coated warrior crashed to the ground near the lake, kicking up a cloud of dust. Out of it ran a man with messy black hair and a machine gun. A clip of ammo materialized in his hand and he jammed it in, firing round after round of magically enhanced **Rune Bullets** at the dragon, weakening its scales and piercing through them with holy flames in some places.

Acnologia took a swipe at him and he jumped over the claws, turning into a familiar redheaded Shinobi. Arashi lashed out with his chain swords, slashing into the weakened scales on Acnologia's attacking hand before leaping back and planting himself on the ground with his chain swords. Six more chains emerged from his back and wrapped around each other above him to form a circle, glowing green and yellow. After a split second, the chains opened like a flower blossoming and a blast of wind and lightning chakra shot out at the dragon, clashing and negating its next breath attack.

Arashi paused, panting. This constant shifting was draining, even on his universally massive reserves of energy. Instantly he changed to Zeref, casting his **Living Magic** on the rubble around him, calling a number of massive golems into existence to buy him some time.

It didn't work. Acnologia's next blast overpowered them, destroyed them, and slammed into him, making him the focal point of the massive explosion that followed.

The dragon snorted, satisfied. It stopped moving and waited to disappear from this realm, having completed the purpose it was summoned for. Instead it heard unfamiliar chuckling from the remaining dust cloud.

"Hehehe…well, I didn't think I'd be coming out so soon. I'm a bit disappointed in myselves…now, which one can take care of things here…hmm…yes, this one will do nicely…show me what you're made of…Walt," the unfamiliar yet oddly nostalgic voice ordered. A bright light filled the area and the dust cloud cleared to reveal…a normal looking and seeming teenager with messy brown hair. He had a red button-up shirt on with a black t-shirt beneath it bearing the image of a human skull. His jeans were torn here and there, and he had odd-looking sneakers on, like there was something on the bottom of each one.

"Well, I have to say, the original made a good choice. Dragon slaying is a specialty of mine," Walt chuckled, sounding quite similar to the unnamed speaker from just moments ago. "Let's see…Black Lagoon's first opening song should do just fine…"

**(Please look up said song if you want to hear it while reading this part. I wrote this part while doing so, so it may enhance the experience. Just type Black Lagoon opening full and click the first non-ad video that comes up.)**

Walt pulled a pair of headphones out of a hole in the air and chuckled, muttering something about hammerspace being wonderful. Then he plugged them into a small black box that he had in his front right pocket and started tapping his right foot. Acnologia started blasting black flames at him, but he just dodged while dancing in time to the music before pulling out two handguns and firing at the next blast, somehow negating it. "Dance for me, Acnologia."

The two began two move around at their fastest speeds, taking potshots at one another and dodging each other in tune to a beat that only they could hear. Walt had taken absolute control over the battle's tempo and was enforcing his will, guiding the dragon through an intricate dance in the sky that matched his own dancing dodges on the ground with bursts of gunfire. Suddenly a number of holes appeared in the dragon's wings and it fell, shrinking to the size of a man. The man was still covered in black scales and barely appeared human. He charged Walt, roaring angrily.

"Nice sound…" Walt dropped the guns into hammerspace and met the man-dragon blow for blow, slapping the dark entity's hands aside and dodging in his odd dance.

It was difficult to describe how it looked from an outside point of view. It seemed like Walt was dancing the same way any who observed individually would if they were in the mood and had the same sound playing on loop. It was as though he was doing every dance move possible at once.

And he was manipulating the dragon's body to do the same.

"You see I can't actually hurt you. But I don't need to, you see. You can do that for me," Walt suddenly said, before tapping a spot on Acnologia's right side that made the Dragon-Slayer punch himself in the face with his left fist, breaking his own nose and several teeth. Dazed, the formerly cursed dragon could do nothing but take the barrage of blows from his own fists, arms, and legs, bending unbelievably in some cases, and shattering all the bones in his body in the process. One by one his vital and non-vital organs were pierced by his shattered bones as his muscles continued to do that convoluted dance Walt's fingertips were guiding them in.

The Dragon-Slayer found himself on the ground, on his knees, and looking blankly into the eyes of his creator. He couldn't die from the damage he'd dealt himself, that was one of the rules of the summoning that had called him. Walt smiled bitterly as he placed a hand on the Dragon-Slayer's head and shifted into Zeref. "What I have given, so I now take away. **Death**." The Black Wizard's **Death Magic** activated, bringing the battle to a conclusion. "I'm so, so sorry my friend."

The man cried for a few moments as Mavis reemerged from his body and retook her physical form, hugging him and comforting him with all the love she held for him in her heart.

* * *

**So review now that you've read. Let me know what you think my dear readers…I seek to know how you feel about this chapter. Link's battle will be the next chapter's subject, as well as the initial step in the battle against Ganon and a certain time manipulating witch. The forces of the mysterious enemy Arashi and company face continue to work in the background, though technically the same people you're seeing here are fighting them in real time, not the future; you just get to experience it as they did!**

**Ah the joys of messing with timelines…**

**Now, I have to ask, is there any objections to my introduction of characters from outside the Final Fantasy realms? I'm just curious; I'm not going to change anything. My roster is going to draw on both outside sources and Final Fantasy. And any Square Enix game I want for that matter.**

**Any theories you have as to the truth behind Arashi and what information you have learned I request be posited to me in private message. I'm not saying I'll confirm, but I am interested to know what you guys think is up with my main man…okay? Okay. Thanks.**

**I hope you've enjoyed chapter two of the prologue. I'm also considering doing short stories at the end of each chapter telling the tale of how each was convinced to join. Would you like that? Please let me know however you can.**

**That's all for now. Until next time.**


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